Love them or loathe them, which-ever your sensibilities, they certainly make a statement in a room. Gone are the days when antlers were consigned to dusty trophy rooms. Now they’re used anywhere from a house in the Hamptons to modern high rise apartments. I prefer antlers that are naturally shed, a big 16 pointer stag grows those antlers in 2 to 4 months, and loses them after he’s mated, only to regrow them again the next year. There are also so many resin antler manufacturers, you really can go the humane way. I love the organic shape they instantly give a room, and the natural colours are always a winner.

A wooden carved stag head, mixed with subway tiles and a collection of rattan trays, gives this veranda a lovely organic feel

Greige textured walls, mixed with old books and glass cloches

A gold stencil and stag antlers gives this bedroom a sense of serenity

An antler chandelier, old wood and stone tops makes this outside kitchen an inviting work space

An armoire and a drinks tray, combined with antique stone floor….

There is such a thing as TOO many antlers, I think…

A neat Scandinavian bedroom gets livened up with a collection of deer horns

Even a modern room can have a complete transformation with the help of antlers

A lovely display in one of my favourite interior shops in Cape town, Block and Chisel

A shop display in Selfridges. A good idea, the old newspapers used as wallpaper…

Cool, classic french grey walls, crystal chandelier and antlers…

I love the very dark varnished floor

Elle Decor

Shop this look on 1st dibs

Dan Carithers interiors

Images from one of my favourite books, Creative walls

Decorative walls

Martyn Thompson

Velvet curtains and chocolate brown walls in the inviting home of Steve Shuck and Bobby Johns

A lovely display of natural curiosities

An all-white tableau of resin horns

Two of my favourite things in one room, skulls and antlers…

Mongolian sheepskin rugs add a lot of warm to a simple Scandinavian interior

I ran into some budget constraints whilst furnishing the house in Provence (namely my husband!), so I had to buy some cheaper pieces to try and finish the interior before the holidays. I’ve spent a lot of time finding antiques at the markets, so I needed these pieces to look like they’ve been around for a while to blend in with the rest of the furniture. I managed to find two nice pieces at French furniture company Maison du Monde at a really reasonable price, but they looked a bit cheap and flat in their pure white paint. So off to Ressource paint for some sample pots. I love their paints, they come in lovely powdery shades, packed with pigment, so you normally only need one coat, which is lovely for a lazy painter like me!

I’ve painted so many things in my life, in so many different techniques, and this was a really quick, easy way of making something look old with minimal effort. I hate sanding. I really REALLY hate sanding. So, my solution is to use universal undercoat. You can paint it over pretty much any paint, including gloss enamel, and then paint a water-based paint over it. Easy peasy. If you’d like your undercoat to be a different colour to your topcoat (it normally comes in white), the easiest would be to mix pigment straight into your undercoat. Otherwise, you have to paint at least 2 coats of universal undercoat, and then the undercoat in the colour of your choice.

So I started with two new, pure white pieces of furniture…

A little desk for the guest room

And a server for the living room.

Next, you have to age your piece. I do this by tying a bunch of old keys together with a piece of wire.

This was all I had in the toolbox, some washers and brackets, but it did the job! Now it’s time to take out your frustrations. Bash the piece all over with the bunch of keys. Make sure they’re old, in case one breaks! Work the piece most where it will naturally get dents and scratches over time, like on the corners and on the legs. It’s important for the dents to be irregular, so don’t use something like a hammer, the keys work really well. I got this tip from a painter at a factory specialising in ageing new furniture.

Next, I mix my undercoat with some wood shavings found at the local lumberyard. If your hardware store has a lumber section, you’ll find some wood shavings lying around. I take the bigger pieces out and use only the fine shavings. Then I add wall crack-filler in powder form (I used Polyfilla). I mix enough shavings and crack-filler in to make a paste, thick enough to give good texture, but thin enough to paint on. I then paint at least two layers of this onto the piece of furniture, with sufficient drying time in between each coat.

Not looking glamorous AT ALL in my husband’s t-shirt and cut off jeans…

Give the piece enough coats to create a good texture.

Once the undercoat was truly dry, I painted two coats of powdery blue water-based wall paint over the desk, avoiding the drawer inners, or you might have trouble closing the drawers afterwards.

On the server, I went with a dusty taupe.

And painted a slightly darker shade on the top, drawers, and in the grooves of the legs for contrast.

Now let your pieces dry for at least a day. Next, I painted antique-ing liquid over small areas at a time, and into all the grooves, wiping with a cloth as I go along, and then using a soft wide brush over the area to soften the strokes. This gives that lovely, aged look. You can buy all manner of antiquing liquids, and it’s usually in the craft area of the paint section. I only use water-based liquids. Once this is dry, I take a medium sandpaper, and sand the areas that would’ve naturally scuffed over the years, like the corners, around the drawer handles, and on the legs. This is where it’s lovely if you used a different colour undercoat, like blue under grey, or red under black, or cream under brown. Don’t overdo the sanding though, you can always do more later! If the piece is not going to get a lot of wear and tear, you can now leave it as it is. If, however, you want it to look even more aged and be harder wearing, and you’re not planning to re-paint it any time soon, you can polish it with some matt antiqueing wax. Or clear matt wax. I didn’t have the right colour, so I went without.

The finished desk in the same blue as the toile curtains, with some antique french books and an old chair found at the market. I just need a little tassel, and of course I managed to lose two of the little drawer knobs, so I need to find something else at the market.

Add some old books, a glass cloche or two, some baskets, and voila!

Now, what to do with all your leftover pots of paint?

Is this what your garage looks like? Do you have loads of paint cans with no idea what’s in them? Thought you could touch up that scuff on the dining room wall, only to discover a dried skin in the bottom of your custom mixed paint, and you can’t remember the code? Well, I love this post by Brooklynlimestone. Mrs Limestone has a label you can download on her site, to organise all your paint cans immaculately. Now, probably because I suffer a bit from O.C.D, this idea really appealed to me, and I rushed straight out to get some empty paint cans from my hardware store. You can use small jars too, but I prefer the cans, in case I drop one. Now you can also close your cans properly, so your paint won’t dry out. Doesn’t this look lovely?

Make sure to write all your codes and other information on the label, and paint some of the colour on the lid and the label, to easily identify your colour.

Well, like I said, on my last trip to London, I spent waaaaay too much time in Anthropology! Who-ever does their merchandising is a genius. I can go into the same shop 5 days in a row (um, I did, we stayed very close by), and every time I’ll notice something else I love. When I went to the antique market in l’isle sur la Sorgue with my friend, she recognised the buyer for their furniture division. Imagine that job, travelling all over the world, picking up gorgeous pieces…

A fantastic vertical green wall welcomes you in-store…

I don’t know which I love more, the artwork or the server underneath…

Wonderfully quirky little table

I adore these ruffled curtains, will definitely have to find a home for them!

With the Queen’s diamond jubilee celebrations and the Olympics all in one year, London is certainly the town to be in at the moment! I’m lucky enough to visit London a few times a year, ostensibly to keep my husband company, he HATES to travel alone, but basically, to fit in a shopping spree of epic proportions. Living in South Africa for a large part of the year, I feel like a deprived child when it comes to fashion, so, oh boy, when I get to London, I let loose, and rue my credit card statement for the next few months!

Ideally, I like to go in spring, as, except for skiing, I’m mostly in my summer wardrobe, and I hate shopping in autumn when the shops are full of black and grey and brown. Soooo depressing. I also can’t stand the sales in London, everything jammed on rail after rail, women pulling and shoving and bumping, and places like Selfridges and Harrods are the worst. They’ll actually step over your unconscious body. I also find people on Oxford street incredibly rude, someone will bump into you so hard you’re left with a bruise, and they’ll pass you by without so much as an ‘excuse me’. Maybe it’s because that’s where all the tourists are? It’s very much every man for himself.

That said, I love a bargain as much as the next girl, so if there’s a pair of Choo’s you’ve had your eye on for ages, the sales would be the perfect time to pick it up, but your timing has to be impeccable, and then you pray that they still have your size in stock. Generally, I’d just rather pay full price for something that I love, than go home with something that’ll end up hanging in my cupboard with the tag on, because it was less 70%.

London is the most amazing place for shopping. I love high-street fashion, and they do it so much better than in New York, Paris or Milan. And, strangely enough, I’ve compared prices of the big designer brands, and Prada or Gucci was no cheaper in Milan than it is in London. And the variety…., I get complete fashion overload. 3 to 5 days is normally enough, then I’m exhausted and broke. We’ve discussed a few times moving back to London (my husband M lived there for 20 years), but, like he rightly said, we’ll be bankrupt in no time.

Oh, and don’t get me started on the food. I think restaurants in London are among the best in the world. I’ve had much much better Italian food in London than I’ve ever had in Italy. There are just too many good ones to choose from. We had lunch in a little place called Cavallino, not somewhere we’ve ever heard of before, and it was FANTASTIC. The best cotoletta alla milanese I’ve tasted in years, if not ever. M used to be in the restaurant business in London for many years, so it’s always great to see what’s new and happenening, and to eat VERY well. We had dinner at the new hotspot, members club, The Arts club, and even though it was 11 o’clock at night, and the place was absolutely bursting at the seams, they managed to serve the best meal I’ve had this year. Out-of-this-world. Don’t ask me what I had, there was a whole table laden with food, but I recall the creamiest scrambled eggs I’ve ever had (especially for dinner?), with white truffles, and there was a yellowtail tartare with lime and ginger dressing I’ll remember forever. Tian of crab, lamb chop with red pepper relish, the rest, after many many cocktails, is a bit of a blur, but I will be going back for more for sure! Also, after spending enough time in Switzerland, the prices don’t even seem that shocking. Food in supermarkets are certainly cheaper than in most European countries, in fact, some of it’s even cheaper than in South Africa, and the general quality and variety is fantastic. Marks and Spencer, Waitrose, Tesco, I just love walking through the aisles. Oh, and the food department at Harrods………… and the chocolate area in Selfridges, and the teas at Fortnum and Mason, and the rooftop supermarket in Harvey Nichols, and the Hummingbird bakery, and Ottolenghi, and Nobu and the Borough market, oh, I’ll be bankrupt, and fat!, if I lived in London…

Well, needless to say, with all the eating and shopping, I never actually do any of the sights in London, but isn’t it enough to just soak in the atmosphere? But one day, one day, I’m going to make it to the natural history museum, to see what a PROPER cabinet of curiosities looks like….

Tea tea lovely tea, I can never get enough of all the gorgeous packaging, even though I don’t actually DRINK tea…. Fortnum and Mason is one of my favourite stops for a tin or two, and they’re lovely as gifts.

And is there a more elegant picnic basket than this?

Talking of tea, that should of course be one of the ‘must-do’ things when visiting London. A good old fashioned afternoon high tea. One of my favourites is at the Berkeley London, where their designer afternoon tea, Prêt-à-Portea, is inspired by the themes and colours of the fashion world.

The new Spring / Summer 2012 collection sees designers such as Dolce & Gabbana, Jason Wu and Valentino grace the Berkeley’s tea stand. Prêt-à-Portea adds a creative twist to the traditional English afternoon tea with cakes and pastries resembling the latest designsfor the style conscious. I loved when Anya Hindmarch made little handbag-shaped biscuits, I just couldn’t bear to eat them!

Now, according to Belleabouttown, the five best places for afternoon tea in London is at The Dorchester, The Langham, The Metropolitan, The Berkeley, and the Orangerie at Kensington palace. Be sure to try one next time you’re in London!

The arts club is London’s oldest art club. This grand Mayfair institution, co-founded by Charles Dickens, has entertained the likes of Whistler, Kipling, Degas and many a Royal Academician since it first opened nearly 150 years ago.

Having undergone a major, year-long refurb the place has an uber plush new look (no boho touches or shabby chic here) and a star-studded committee; Gwyneth Paltrow has collaborated on the décor with David d’Almada and Mark Ronson is in charge of the music. Stella McCartney is a patron, also HRH Prince Philip. The club’s restaurant is currently home to the hottest tables in town, with superstar chef Raphael Duntoye (from Le Petite Maison) overseeing a delectable menu, and has a world class contemporary art collection.

I spent a WHOLE DAY in the Selfridges shoe gallery. Does that make me a bad person?

It seemed that if you didn’t own a pair of glossy rose gold shoes, you simply weren’t current, darling! And if they look like something out of the Jetsons, living in space, even better!

Louboutin, oh Louboutin

I lost my heart to these…

Every girl needs a pair of party shoes to dance the night away in!

What is not to love about Alaïa?

Lanvin

The stylist, Rachel Zoe, has her own shoe range now. Not really my style, seeing as I’m nearly 6 foot tall, and with rather large feet, I need to steer clear of the platforms. Otherwise I scare small children and men.

I also popped downstairs to their interior section, and loved the antler mural. And can you ever have too many beautiful mirrors or cloches?

Then off to the Harrods food hall for a snack, before I undergo some more retail therapy.

I discovered a fantastic new shop by Latvian designer Atis Artemjevs, floating, frothy creations, wth the most innovative draping, and the wonderful assistant, that gave us tips on her favourite Icelandic restaurants, a real gem!

Now, I’m not normally one for second-hand/vintage shops (same problem with digging through rails of clothes), but I did find a fabulous shop, Sign of the times, just off the Kings road, stocking Alexander McQueen, Cavalli, Dior, Gucci etc etc. All lovely, on trend fashion with not a mothball in sight. A McQueen dress would set you back about £150-£300, Dior for £250, and I bough a gorgeous emerald green dress by Bruce Oldfield for £100. See, told you I loved a bargain!

Had to stop off at two of my favourite shops, French sole and Blue Velvet, to pick up some ballet pumps, I know, we’re so tired of them, but they’re great if you have to walk miles and miles!

I also tried to do lots of research on interiors, and stopped off at as many places as I could. Saw some wonderful driftwood tables and mirrors at Oka, reindeer ice-bucket at India Jane (it’ll work in the chalet), crystal at William Yeoward, fabrics at Designers guild, oh the list goes on. Spent waaaay too much time in Anthropology – will post that tomorrow – and had a good look around Ralph Lauren.

I love the marble topped table in Ralph Lauren

The linens were incredibly intricate, I’d love to dress a very feminine bedroom in these..

French connection has started a home-ware collection. Very calm beach-side chic…

Very cool campaign-style chair

After a long day of shopping, back to the Berkeley, the Blue bar this time, for a well deserved glass of champagne!

After 5 days in London, I’m well and truly exhausted. One of my best friends is a buyer for a big fashion chain – is that every girl’s dream job, or what? – and I truly don’t know how she does it. I’m suffering from complete sensory overload, too much information to process, and a monster hangover from all the party-ing and dining.

Thanks to said hangover, I had to cancel our table at Heston Blumenthal’s London restaurant, Dinner, and I’m completely devastated! I was SO looking forward to it, I’m obsessed with that man’s cooking, but I just can’t seem to drag myself out of bed on a rainy Sunday night in London.

Boohoo, so sad, I’ll just have to go back to London soon!

Ta-dah for now!

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